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The 8008 was the foundation for at least 30 general purpose microcomputers - some of which came to market. The MCM/70 is amongst the most prominent. So the 8080 cannot be considered the first chip available for general purpose microcomputing. For more information, see "The Making of the MCM Microcomputer" Zbigniew Stachniak (2003) |
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To compete in this market, Roberts needed more capital. He took MITS public in November 1973 with a stock offering of 500,000 shares at $1 each. The [[1973 oil crisis]] caused a stock market downturn and MITS was only able to sell 250,000 shares.<ref>Mims (1986), 40–41.</ref> This allowed MITS to pay off the existing debt, but did not allow for any expansion. Roberts had developed several test equipment products such as a Waveform Generator and a Digital Voltmeter so he attempted to appeal to kit builders again by featuring the test equipment and digital clocks in the advertisements, instead of calculators. MITS was losing money, and by July 1974, the full page prominent ads were replaced with quarter-page ads in the back of the magazine.<ref name="RE July 1973">{{cite magazine | title = It's About Time |magazine= Radio-Electronics | volume = 45 | issue = 7 | page =75 | date = July 1974}} A quarter-page advertisement for the MITS DC100 clock/timer. Kit $79.95, assembled $99.95</ref>
MITS was now $300,000 in debt and Roberts was looking for a new hit product. He decided to return to the kit market with a low cost computer. The target customer would think that "some assembly required" was a desirable feature. Roberts had looked at the [[Intel 4004]] for calculators and thought the [[Intel 8008]] was limited and difficult to work with
==''Popular Electronics'' and ''Radio-Electronics''==
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